Friday, July 29, 2016

Judy Penz Sheluk's debut mystery novel, The Hanged Man's Noose, was published in July 2015 from Barking Rain Press. Skeletons in the Attic, Judy’s second novel, and the first in her Marketville Mystery series, will be published in August 2016 by Imajin Books. It is now available for pre-order on Amazon.

Mysteries have always been my go-to genre. I spent the
better part of my teen years reading Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, and Dick
Francis, and I’ve been an avid reader of mysteries ever since. When I decided
to try writing a novel, mystery seemed the logical choice. After all, reading
is the best teacher.

What came first for Skeletons in the Attic, the story or the title?

The
story. I started writing it as Calamity Barnstable (not exactly a grabber for a
title). Early on, Calamity (Callie) discovers a skeleton in the attic. As soon
as she made the discovery, I knew I had my title.

When you write, do you tend to focus on plot,
character, or setting the most?

I try to
give each have equal weight. Readers will have to tell me whether or not I’ve
succeeded!

You also have a great deal of experience in
antiques. Do you use this knowledge in your fiction?

In The Hanged Man’s Noose, definitely, as one of the main
characters, Arabella Carpenter, owns the Glass Dolphin antiques shop. In
Skeletons, not as much, although Arabella makes a brief appearance and there is
a vintage locket that is important to the story (it’s even featured on the
cover). I enjoy other authors’ series where there’s a crossover character
(Michael Connelly does this brilliantly), so I thought it would be fun to do
that with my Glass Dolphin and Marketville Mystery series. Arabella was my
first pick, probably because of the antiques angle.

You live in Ontario with your husband. How did
the two of you meet?

We met in our early twenties at Liberty Mutual Insurance
Company in Toronto. He was a Loss Prevention Engineer and I was in the Credit
Department. He was in charge of the NFL football pool. I had no interest in
football, but I did have an interest in him, so I joined the pool. We dated for
a while, had a huge argument one day, broke up, and went our separate ways.

We
both moved a handful of times, and ten years later, my mother ran into Mike at
a shopping mall. He asked if I was married yet. She said no (much to her
chagrin!) and he asked for my number. We met for dinner (each in our own car)
and two months later we were buying a house together. We’ll be married 27
years, this October 13th (we got married on Friday 13th).

Mike always said if I wasn’t so stubborn we’d have been married 35 years, but I
say we’d have been divorced for 27 years. We both needed those years to figure
out who we were and who we wanted to be.

That's actually a very romantic story!

Canadians and Americans have much in common.
What would you say is the biggest cultural difference?

I think Canadians tend to be less vocal about their
patriotism, which in way I find sort of sad, but by nature, I think we tend to
be a bit lower key than our friends to the south. That said, I quite admire the
way Americans embrace their patriotism.

Something that always amuses me is this: When a Canadian
visits the US, we will say, “I went to Chicago or New York, or Dallas…” An
American will inevitably say, “I went to Canada.” Doesn’t matter if it was
Toronto or Vancouver or Newfoundland!

That's so true!

Do you have a favorite mystery author? A
favorite book or series?

Oh, so many…my current favorites are Tana French, Sue
Grafton, Louise Penny, John Sandford and Michael Connelly. They are all
brilliant writers, and I’ve read every one of their books. I’ve also recently
discovered Hamish Macbeth by M.C. Beaton – great fun. If I had to pick an
all-time favorite, desert island series to take with me, it would be Agatha
Christie.

Some great names there! I do love Christie, and I am also a huge Grafton fan. I still have to investigate the others!

What other genres do you enjoy reading?

Canadian literature. Favorite books include Three Day Road
by Joseph Boyden and The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald. Both books
are very dark, but very compelling reads.

What book is on your nightstand right now?

Should’ve Played Poker by Debra H. Goldstein. I met Debra at
Boucheron 2015 in Raleigh and really liked her, so when her book came out, I
knew I had to read it. It’s a light mystery set in a nursing home, and so far
it’s very enjoyable.

Do you have a rigid writing schedule? If not,
when do you write?

Definitely not rigid. I gave up rigid when I left my day job
in 2003. Since then, I’ve been a full time freelance writer/editor, and my hours
are very fluid (I like to say my boss is very flexible). I don’t do much
freelance magazine writing these days, but I am the Senior Editor of New
England Antiques Journal and the Editor of Home BUILDER Magazine Canada, so a
lot of hours are spent working on those publications. I do try to write at
least six days a week, and when I’m working on a book, I aim for a chapter a
day. It doesn’t always work out that way, but that’s the goal.

What are your favorite hobbies?

I’m a passionate, if not particularly good, golfer and
belong to two ladies 9-hole leagues. I don’t really enjoy 18 holes – takes too
much time – but I really enjoy playing nine.
I’m also a runner and have done some marathons and half marathons,
though these days I’m happy to run 5k (3 miles) three or four times a week. And
I walk my dog, Gibbs, a Golden Retriever, 3 or 4 times a day (two decent walks
and a couple of short ones). He’s only nine months old, so he needs the
exercise. If you’re into counting steps, most days I get between 20-25,000

8 comments:

Your books sound great...I'll have to check them out. Also, I love the picture of your Golden. That's my favorite breed. Although I don't have a dog right now, in the past, I've had three of the sweetest Goldens on the planet.

HI Chris, thank you for checking out my books! Gibbs (named after Leroy Jethro Gibbs of NCIS) is my fourth Golden. His predecessors were Einstein (named after the dog in Dean Koontz's book, Watchers), Ranger and Copper, and as a kid I had a Golden mix, Sandy. They are great dogs, though not for the immaculate housekeeper. The hair!!! And I must admit I'd forgotten how crazy puppies can be!

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